Dissimilar welding of AA5083 to AZ31 Mg alloys using modified friction stir clinching brazing

•The AA5083AZ31 Mg joint of MFSCB was explored using Zn as interlayer for the first time.•The keyhole defect is completely removed after MFSCB.•No deleterious and brittle phase such as Al3Mg2 or Al12Mg17 was formed in MFSBed Al/Zn/Mg joint.•The fracture load of welds is determined by the filling of keyhole and the phases formed at the interface. AA5083-H112 Al alloy and AZ31 Mg alloy with pure Zn as an interlayer was joined through a Modified friction stir clinching brazing (MFSCB) process. Results revealed that no deleterious phase such as Al3Mg2 was present in MFSBed Al/Mg joint. The fracture load of the joint under tensile/shear and cross-tension loading reached 3809 N and 2543 N, respectively. By the addition of Zn as an interlayer, the brazing zone was formed at the edges of the Al/Mg joint, which was the main reason for the betterment of the fracture load. Furthermore, plug fracture occurred under tensile/shear and cross-tension loading.